The 86-foot wave
On 29 October 2020, Sebastian Steudtner was towed into a monster at Praia do Norte. After a painstaking scientific measurement — using the surfer's body as a scale across synchronised video and photos — the ride was ratified by Guinness World Records in 2024 at 26.21 metres (86 ft): the largest wave ever surfed. It sits at number one in our Hall of Fame.
An unlikely record-holder
Steudtner was born in Nuremberg, about as far from big surf as Germany gets. He moved toward the ocean young, chased swells to Hawaii, and eventually made Nazaré a base. He is not a product of a surf town — he is a product of obsession, and of treating big-wave surfing as a discipline to be engineered rather than simply survived.
Surfing as engineering
That mindset shows in his equipment. Steudtner has worked with engineers — including a well-publicised collaboration with Porsche — on the aerodynamics of his boards and stance, on his wetsuit, and on the physical conditioning needed to ride a wave the size of an apartment block at highway speed. When a mistake can be fatal, marginal gains are not marketing; they are safety.
Why Nazaré
No record like this happens by accident of place. The Nazaré canyon focuses Atlantic swell into a peak two to three times its open-ocean height, which is why the record book keeps being rewritten here. To see what a giant day looks like, watch the live webcam or track the forecast through the winter season.